First Date
by Believer29
Summary: "What sort of date are you? Come on then, tightwad, chips are on me..." The Doctor starts to see hope, that Rose could make it all better. NineRose first date, set immediately after End of the World, leading into the Unquiet Dead.


Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, but it does seem to own a large portion of my life. I really should get out more.

Writer's Note: I'm rediscovering writing FanFiction after about a 5-year hiatus. All old stories deleted, they were rubbish. Feedback would be great; I have some great ideas, but not sure if I'm very spot on with the characters.

The Doctor and Rose walked down the street, her arm wrapped around his. But they were separated when a group of people had walked in their path. He caught a glimpse of her mess of blonde hair through the crowd, moving towards her again when the crowd quickly dissipated. She was still honing in on the smell of chips.

"There it is!" she motioned for him to follow, heading towards the street corner chippie. For a moment, he stared after her, amazed.

Two days ago, he was on a mission to evict the Nestene Consciousness from Earth, and he had no plans after that.  
He had spent centuries, he supposed, in the Time War. For so long, the noise of the War filled his mind; the pain, fire, screaming, blood and dust.  
Then Gallifrey burned, and he heard nothing. Empty.  
He hadn't intended to survive, and he concluded that was the universe's sick twisted way of punishing him for killing billions of creatures, everyone wiped out in a second. He had saved the universe, but at a cost.  
But now, he supposed, the universe wanted him to live on… he didn't believe in destiny or fate, but he did believe in the universe. And the universe had given him the greatest gift of all. _Her. _  
Rose Tyler.  
He wondered if she would ever comprehend just how much she was saving him, just by simply being there.

"Doctor?" she stood impatiently, hands on her hips, looking at him quizzically. She was two shops down, hovering in the front door of the chippie. The scent wafted towards him, beckoning.

He smiled softly, and walked towards the corner. She stopped him at the door.

"Are you alright?" her eyebrows were drawn together. She looked right into his eyes, he noted, not many people did that. She did not break eye contact, not many people did that, either.  
"Hmm?" she waited for an answer.

"Yeah," he said, smiling softly again. He gazed at her fondly; she broke into a huge grin, and looped her arm through his as she led him into the shop. The smell brought him out of his reverie. "Have you ever had one of those banana fritters?" he queried. "I've never had one, thought about it, bananas are good, I love a banana. But they're good enough on their own, why would someone think to batter and fry one?"

"What, you're saying it's outrageous that someone should fry a banana? Why?"

"Because they're just so brilliant as a fruit, why try and change something that's already good?"

She sighed, "I wish you had a time machine… cause then, you know…" she trailed off, trying not to smile.  
"What?" he grinned.  
"Cause then we could go back in time to the first ever Banana fritter, and put a stop to it immediately," she smirked. "And when we're finished with THAT, I bet there are all sorts of other horrible banana cooking-related atrocities that need to be reversed. And don't get me started…"

"Are you trying to wind me up, Rose Tyler?"

"Ooh, depends, is it working?"

"No." He grinned.

"I'm having chips and gravy, what'll you have?" she approached the counter.

"And in the future, don't try to dabble in the art of mockery, either. You'd be awful at that, too."

"He'll have the same," she told the girl behind the counter. Rose pulled a couple of folded notes from her jeans pocket. "Keep the change."

Several minutes later, they were munching on chips, sitting and looking out onto the street.  
"They've got no idea," Rose mused, taking another mouthful, watching people on the pedestrian crossings.  
"Well that's the human race for you. Wonderful humans, impossibly thick." He said, also watching people walk past. There was a gentle breeze weaving its way through the buildings.

"When are we?"

"The morning after we left; only been a couple hours, why?"

"Just wondering," she looked intently at her food.

"Do you want to go home?"

She pondered this for a moment, while he looked at her expectantly. "Nope," she decided.

"Good." He popped another chip in his mouth, smiling at the street.

She smiled briefly, but it disappeared when she continued to look at people passing on the street. She was sad, having watched the Earth burn, and now seeing people just wandering around, going about their very boring, very insignificant lives. It was so small, compared to the Doctor.  
And he had told her his planet was gone, and he was alone. She suddenly realised she had something very significant in her life, _him. _He was so important, more important than her, than anyone. _'There's me,' _she had said. It sounded like an offer. But it wasn't, it was a promise.

"Thanks for buying," he said casually.

"That's alright," she said. "It's the last of my pay from Henriks. I'm glad it's gone to good use."

"Sorry I had to blow up your job," he continued.

"Thanks for not blowing it up while I was still inside," she countered.

"Oh, you've changed your tune. You were right cross with me earlier for doing that. I thought it was a bit rude considering I'd just saved your life, and it _was _in the best interests of the planet…"

"Do you really want to have an argument about being rude?"

"Well, not here, Rose. We're in public, that would be a bit…"

"_Rude," _they both said at the same time.

She laughed, and he flashed a goofy grin. He waited while she finished the rest of her lunch, before he stood up. "Fancy a walk?"

She took a breath, smiling again. God, he loved that smile more and more. "Okay," she said shyly, standing up. He offered her is hand and she took it eagerly. They started back down the block towards the TARDIS. "When you say, walk…" she started.

"Oh, not here," he frowned. "It's 2005. Boring." He opened the TARDIS door and walked inside, she followed, pushing the door closed behind her.

"So where are we going?" she called after him as he walked around the console and started flicking switches.

"Oh, I have an idea, lovely night for a stroll, this is," he punched in his coordinates. "Oh, Rose you are gonna love it." The TARDIS wheezed and groaned, and a moment later, it jerked violently, sending Rose to the floor, landing on her bottom.

"Ouch," she complained.

"Oi, what are you doin on the floor?" He called, head sticking out from the other side of the console. "I could use your help over here."

She stumbled towards the console, hanging onto the coral struts when she got closer.

"Okay, hold that down!" he moved behind her, pushing her hand towards a lever.

A minute later, he had circled back around to her again. "Now this one," he moved her towards a round-cylinder shaped object. She supposed it looked like a piston, it was just out of reach of the other lever. The TARDIS jostled again, this time sending him flying across the floor. He quickly recovered and jumped to the other side of the console, trying to stabilise the flight.

"Hold that one down!" he yelled again.

"I'm holding this one down," she said defensively.

"Well, hold them both down," he said, matter-of-factly, rolling his eyes at her.

She reached towards the previous lever but it was almost halfway across the console and she couldn't keep her hands on both controls at the same time. "It's not going to work!"

"Oi, I promised you a time machine, and that's what you're getting. Now, you've seen the future, let's have a look at the past, 1860. How does 1860 sound?"

"What happened in 1860?"

"I don't know, let's find out. Hold on, here we go!"


End file.
